The Sound of Words

Every now and then, I fall in love with a word. I hear it and start repeating in my head. It doesn’t have to be complex or unusual, but I usually like the way it sounds. I might even try to use it in my writing…isn’t that one of the deadly sins of writing, using a word just because you like the way it sounds?

I am guilty of that.

One such word was compelling….I didn’t find the information compelling enough to take action. I fell in love with that word at work one day…used it in a report.

I got complemented on the use of the word, and used it several times thereafter.

Remuneration was another word that came up in a conversation with a coworker. Honestly, I had never paid much attention to the word and regulary reversed the m and n, making it renumeration. But that means something totally different (if anything at all), or so I learned that day.

Musical words like crescendo, forte, paradiddle, and ratamacue just roll off the tongue.

The latter two are percussion terms, for rudiments (or basic rhythms) that percussionists learn. They are great onomatopoeic words, because they refer to the sound of the rhythm.

Today, the word was careening.

I have felt like I was careening through life these last few weeks. Things aren’t really slowing down, they are speeding up as I get older. The sound of words gives me a little bit of joy as I escape busyness and ponder something uncomplicated. They spill over into my writing.

Heck, if keep trying to write, I might even get remunerated for it someday.

Hi, I only stumbled upon your blog now and completely understand what you mean by being fascinated by a word. It happens to me as well. Sometimes I repeat it so many times (in my head) that the sound of it completely changes.
Christina